The week in review.

Ben was in Orlando all last week for work so me and the girls kept as busy as possible so the time would pass quickly. We all missed Ben and were happy to have him home again.

We spent lots of time on walks and playing at various parks:





(We have had some hot and humid days and Elsa gets some crazy curly hair in these conditions.)


I spent a few nights screen printing 60 kitchen towels to give as gifts at a church activity:


We had a very quick visit from my cousin Lee and showed him around a few spots downtown. Amelia always loves a trip to the Jefferson Memorial:






A nature walk at Huntley Meadows, which was soooo green:














We went to a farewell party for lots of our friends who are moving and the kids loved playing in the bounce house:







(Elsa with her friend Scarlett, who unfortunately will be moving soon.)


The biggest event of the week was Amelia's 4th birthday on Saturday. That will require its own post though. Ben and I finally took a moment to relax together after all the craziness and watched a movie outside on Saturday night on our very own "big screen." The weather was perfect that night and all the fireflies were out:

Arlington: The Rap

Yes, my high school IS that cool.

President Obama chose my high school as the location of his town hall-style meeting yesterday in Green Bay. That's right. He stood in the very gymnasium where I learned some awesome badminton skills. Go Trojans!






Actual caption for this photo: "A couple embrace each other as they watch President Barack Obama leave after speaking at a town hall meeting at Green Bay Southwest High School." Nice. Let's be honest. Those kids were just making out under the bleachers. They had no idea that Obama was there.

Serious sandwiches, Philly style.

We found this awesome dive for dinner called Tony Luke's. It was located essentially underneath the freeway. They had killer Philly cheese steaks, and yes, I did consume that entire sandwich.





After delighting in some massive amounts of meat, we headed to another great area of town, Rittenhouse Square, for a little shopping before driving home. This quaint area was filled with delightful architecture and cute little restaurants and shops on narrow streets.

Please Touch Museum!

We spent the afternoon at the Please Touch Museum. Of all the Children's Museums I have been to, I think this is my new favorite. It was recently relocated to this beautiful huge building. The interior was really spacious and very nicely designed. Throughout the museum they had a fun collection of vintage toys behind glass for adults to enjoy. There were some fun areas designated for smaller children which Elsa loved to crawl around in and explore.










Naturally Amelia chooses to organize all the ducks.


There was a beautiful, gigantic carousel to ride.

One of our favorite parts was the Alice in Wonderland exhibit. There were fun mazes and crazy rooms and mirrors and tea parties.


















Amelia also loved the grocery store and had fun shopping and ringing up all of her items.


Another favorite spot for Amelia was this little hospital where you could take care of the newborns.

Rodin Museum

Our first stop in Philadelphia was the Rodin Museum. It's small but has a great collection of his sculptures. It's in a great area of the city so we walked around a little bit, although it was raining so we didn't see too much. We grabbed some crazy cheap hot dogs and kielbasa from a street vendor for lunch and ate in the car.